This invention relates generally to electrical service panels, and more particularly, this invention relates to the even distribution of light across a lens in a door of an electrical service panel.
Recreational vehicle (xe2x80x9cRVxe2x80x9d) parks use electrical service panels to provide electricity to its customers. The park owners desire lighting on these units to show the number of the campsite and also to provide lighting when the customer is plugging into the service panel. The customer desires equipment that looks nice as the equipment is obvious in every camp site. A water tight seal is needed to prevent water from getting into the panel.
One prior art unit, shown in FIG. 1, supplies a standard electrical hub connection 14 on top of the unit 12 where a Pagoda light 16 can be installed. A pagoda light, such as pagoda light 16, illuminates an area on the ground, and light emitted is spread radially. The Pagoda light 16 does not provide light inside the unit 12 when the customer is plugging into the service equipment. In fact, when the door 18 is opened as shown, the outlets 20 and 22 are shadowed by the door 18 and adequate light is not provided to the customer during plugging in. The Pagoda light 16 also does not provide a location for installing the number of the campsite.
Another prior art configuration, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, shows a unit 30 with an optional meter opening 32 and a location 34 where a door (not shown) may be hinged to hinges 36. A lens 38 carrying an alphanumeric symbol 40 is positioned above an opening 42 in the unit and riveted with a plurality of rivets 44. The riveted lens 38 provides a water tight seal although it cosmetically looks very unprofessional. Turning to FIG. 3, a separator wall 48 is shown dividing the space occupied by the meter opening 32 and the space provided below the lens 38. A wire clip 46 is used to align the separator wall 48 within the front panel 31. Attached to the separator wall 48 is a lamp 50 to which is secured a plurality of LED""s 52 directed towards the base of the unit 30. A white background 54 is used to reflect the light from the LED""s 52. Unfortunately, this does not provide an even pattern of light across the lens 38. Additionally, when the door (not shown) is opened for accessing the outlets (not shown), the LED""s 52 are directing light towards the base of the unit 30 rather than towards the outlets, and thus optimum lighting for the customer is not provided.
The above discussed and other drawbacks and deficiencies are overcome or alleviated by a service unit having a top side and a bottom side, a front surface and a rear surface, the unit further comprising a service panel having a dead front and a rear defining the rear surface of the unit, a door covering the dead front of the service panel in a closed position of the door, a front surface of the door defining the front surface of the unit, the door movable between the closed position and an open position, the door having a window, and, a lamp, wherein, when the door is in the closed position, light is directed from the lamp across the window in a direction away from the top side of the unit and towards the bottom side of the unit.
The above-discussed and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings.